Joey Barton wished Coventry City the best of the luck in their promotion scramble but didn’t attempt to disguise his frustration at being on the wrong end of a 2-1 result at the Ricoh Arena.

Peterborough’s 1-0 defeat at Wimbledon and the 1-1 draw between Blackpool and Doncaster leaves City three places and three points outside the play-off zone and four ahead of Fleetwood.

“Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good,” said Barton, “and certainly that’s the case for Coventry tonight.

“I thought we were by far the best side – it’s a great goal from Jordy Hiwula, to be fair to him, that ends up winning the game but apart from that we controlled large portions of it. We’ve had 24 shots and they’ve had seven* but they’re above us in the league.

Read More

“I know they had a couple of knocks and niggles tonight and a young lad making his debut, but they’re a good young side, they’ve got some good players and Mark’s got them playing well.

Coventry City v Fleetwood Town in the Sky Bet League 1 match at the Ricoh Arena, with, Joey Barton

“We played them at our place and they were the better side first half but we managed to beat them 3-0. I think Mark, hand on heart, will know that we’ve absolutely pumped them tonight and we’ve lost the game 2-1.

Read More

“We’ve got 22 players out there trying to win it so you just have to dust yourself down and accept that they win the game on the night. We wish them all the best and hopefully we finish them above them this season.”

After back-to-back away defeats in the West Midlands, Barton, tongue in cheek, claimed his priority is to reach the safety of 52 points but he wouldn’t completely rule out the possibility of a late push for promotion.